Utilizing British school grounds for biodiversity and environmental education

Attitudes toward the environment begin developing in childhood, which means that spending time outdoors can be a key factor in future pro-environmental behaviors. Children who spend time outdoors are more interested in and engaged with the natural world, leading to increases in students' health and motivation, interest in science, and environmental literacy, all while creating new habitats and contributing valuable data to monitor and assess biodiversity. This study looked specifically at the potential of school grounds to increase opportunities for outdoor learning in Britain. Since school grounds are already part of students' educational setting, they could offer significant opportunities to increase students' pro-environmental behaviors. However, many factors act as barriers to outdoor learning on school grounds, including teachers' concerns over student safety and their own level of training, needs of school curriculum, and lack of time and resources. Since little is currently known about the state of school grounds, this study surveyed British schools and addressed three questions: 1) do British schools have outdoor areas to engage students in biodiversity and conservation; 2) do existing areas maintain specialized habitat areas; and 3) are existing school grounds used to engage students in lessons and extracurricular activities related to biodiversity and its conservation.

This study was conducted via a brief online survey sent to staff at all schools in England, Wales, and Scotland. The researchers also attracted participants using advertisements on Twitter and a teacher forum. The survey asked about the area of their school grounds, which type(s) of common wildlife-friendly areas were present, and if they used the grounds to teach ecology or run any ecology-focused clubs. The survey also asked what type(s) of funding their school received, the grade levels taught, and gave the option to leave additional comments. After removing duplicates, they researchers analyzed a total of 1297 responses representing 1172 schools in England, 22 in Wales, and 103 in Scotland.

The study found that all schools had access to natural areas that could be used to engage students in outdoor learning, and 76% of schools had access to more than 1,000 square meters of natural outdoor space. The most common wildlife-friendly areas required less specialized hands-on management, such as trees, planted borders, and hedgerows. More specialized habitat areas, such as compost heaps and bird houses, were reported by less than half of the schools. Private schools were more likely to report specialized habitat areas, perhaps due to their increased use of resources to create attractive school grounds as part of their esthetic. Primary schools and through schools (those that combine primary and secondary) also reported significantly more wildlife-friendly areas than secondary schools or colleges. Despite the presence of natural areas in all school grounds, only 58% of schools reported using their grounds to teach ecology. The schools that did teach ecology had significantly more habitat areas than those which did not. The researchers found that primary and through schools were the most likely to teach ecology, perhaps because they have more flexible curriculum. No relationships were found between different funding types.

Themes observed in 509 comments from the open-ended response box offer additional context for these findings. Time and funding were frequently cited barriers. Some respondents shared that their school had used or developed their grounds for outdoor learning in the past, but that these programs were no longer running because a particular staff member had left the school. Some schools also shared their engagement with external organizations that support outdoor learning; the authors noted this finding as a positive sign, but also cautioned that continued engagement after the end of the specific project is not guaranteed. Finally, some schools acknowledged plans to improve current practices through the development or expansion of existing natural spaces. For example, one school was starting a “Science Garden” to use in teaching.

This study had limitations. Because the study focused only on schools in the United Kingdom, the generalizability of the results is limited. As a voluntary survey, the study may also suffer from response bias because schools with an environmental focus were more likely to complete the survey. In addition, the sample included a large proportion of primary state schools, the most common school in the UK. Finally, many schools did not include the size of their grounds, or may have done so inaccurately, making this metric more difficult to interpret.

Researchers recommend that all schools utilize their outdoor spaces to support outdoor learning and promote biodiversity through the development of short- and long-term initiatives such as biodiversity surveys. They call for national curriculum changes across all British education that improve the provision for environmental education in schools. This study builds upon the existing evidence that moving away from formal science instruction toward more experiential learning can help maintain student interest in science. To address this opportunity, the researchers recommend reintroducing science assessment in primary curriculum (which was removed by the government in 2010), developing a formal secondary school qualification in natural history, and reinstating practical fieldwork into senior school curricula.